We love Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy. He fights hard, he’s hilarious and he’s a veteran Special Forces badass. That’s why it is unfortunate that Kennedy will likely be the next dude to get fired over tweets if he continues to tweet as he’s recently tweeted. (There’s a special place in hell for writers that use both the noun and verb forms of the fake word “tweet” in a single sentence, I’m sure.)
Here at CagePotato, we’re the last group of people to be easily offended, but we’re just trying to send an advance warning to Señor Kennedy. Recent twitter posts of his have included many elements of any get-your-ass-fired social media cocktail: References to rape, singling out people of certain religions for bodily harm, and shotguns.
We love Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy. He fights hard, he’s hilarious and he’s a veteran Special Forces badass. That’s why it is unfortunate that Kennedy will likely be the next dude to get fired over tweets if he continues to tweet as he’s recently tweeted. (There’s a special place in hell for writers that use both the noun and verb forms of the fake word “tweet” in a single sentence, I’m sure.)
Here at CagePotato, we’re the last group of people to be easily offended, but we’re just trying to send an advance warning to Señor Kennedy. Recent twitter posts of his have included many elements of any get-your-ass-fired social media cocktail: References to rape, singling out people of certain religions for bodily harm, and shotguns.
“Is it wrong that I honk and wave at Mormons as they ride by on their bikes trying to get them to crash?”
And on April 22nd, when Kennedy follower @jere562 asked the fighter, ”if #zombies were roaming the streets and one was a celebrity, who would it be and what weapon would you use to kill them?”, Kennedy replied:
@jere562 all [of] the cast members of the Jersey shore, and the Kardashian family. Shotgun”
First of all, we’d argue that If Kennedy is annoyed by the nice young ladies of Keeping up With the Kardashians, he has no one to blame but himself. You either watch that shit on mute or stick to pictures and videos of Kim Kardashian on the web, like us.
Secondly, yes, Kennedy’s tweets were tongue-in-cheek and funny. But that didn’t save Miguel Torres, who was fired after quoting a comedy television show on twitter. If UFC President Dana White does end up warning or punishing Kennedy, he might at least realize that if one tells a roster of hundreds of fighters to get active on twitter, it would be helpful to provide them with some very specific guidelines.
Kennedy is walking the line, here, especially in light of Anheuser-Busch’s recent warning on fighter behavior. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get in trouble, but if Kennedy does get canned, I think we can all agree that this is how he’d want to be remembered:
(“Gettin’ clean before we get dirty, I see? Alright then, baby, that’s…[*vomits*]”)
Katy Perry‘s latest video for “Part of Me” tells the story of a young woman who decides to enlist in the Marines after seeing her boyfriend canoodling with a co-worker. (Bear with us, this gets better.) So, she chops her hair off, embarks on an epic training montage, and when she gets a letter from her old beau, she burns it like the worthless trash it is. In the end, she is in a world of shit, yes, but she is alive, and she is not afraid.
God only knows why Ranger Up and actual-member-of-the-United-States-Armed-ForcesTim Kennedy decided to do a scene-by-scene parody of the video. Kennedy seems to be mocking the idea that joining the military is a logical response to having a bad day, but we think Tim just needed an excuse to put on a cheap wig and dance around with his friends. The point is, this happened, it really exists, and you can watch it below.
(“Gettin’ clean before we get dirty, I see? Alright then, baby, that’s…[*vomits*]“)
Katy Perry‘s latest video for “Part of Me” tells the story of a young woman who decides to enlist in the Marines after seeing her boyfriend canoodling with a co-worker. (Bear with us, this gets better.) So, she chops her hair off, embarks on an epic training montage, and when she gets a letter from her old beau, she burns it like the worthless trash it is. In the end, she is in a world of shit, yes, but she is alive, and she is not afraid.
God only knows why Ranger Up and actual-member-of-the-United-States-Armed-ForcesTim Kennedy decided to do a scene-by-scene parody of the video. Kennedy seems to be mocking the idea that joining the military is a logical response to having a bad day, but we think Tim just needed an excuse to put on a cheap wig and dance around with his friends. The point is, this happened, it really exists, and you can watch it below.
With the news today that Derek Brunson has failed his medicals and as a result has been forced out of his March 3 main card bout with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at the upcoming Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey show in Columbus, OH, it appears that one prime candidate for the bout is very interested in stepping up on just over two weeks notice: Tim Kennedy.
Kennedy, who still has a bitter taste in his mouth from the unanimous decision loss he suffered against Souza back in August 2010 at Strikeforce: Houston responded to questions on Twitter today regarding his desire to take the bout and said he is in shape and ready to go if he gets the call to rematch the Brazilian submission specialist.
(Do over? Photo courtesy of MMAJunkie)
With the news today that Derek Brunson has failed his medicals and as a result has been forced out of his March 3 main card bout with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at the upcoming Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey show in Columbus, OH, it appears that one prime candidate for the bout is very interested in stepping up on just over two weeks notice: Tim Kennedy.
Kennedy, who still has a bitter taste in his mouth from the unanimous decision loss he suffered against Souza back in August 2010 at Strikeforce: Houston responded to questions on Twitter today regarding his desire to take the bout and said he is in shape and ready to go if he gets the call to rematch the Brazilian submission specialist.
“I know I don’t really have an objective opinion, but I’m pretty accurate in how I view how fights went, and I thought I landed more strikes,” Kennedy told MMAjunkie.com after the fight. “I thought I landed more kicks. I knew I stuffed both of his takedowns. I knew I was the only one that scored takedowns. I knew I was the one that was controlling the center of the ring. In my understanding of the scoring of MMA, that means I won the fight.”
Brunson wasn’t cleared by the Ohio commission when they learned that he wears contacts when he fights — a common practice by fighters. After being told that he would be pulled from the card, he tweeted today that he will be booking an appointment for Lasik eye surgery in the near future.
“Failed medicals [– specifially the] eye exam. I’ve been fighting with contacts for 11 fights, [and it] never was an issue [before],” Brunson explained. “Ohio won’t pass my eye exam. I’m working on getting Lasik [surgery] this week. I’ll be back in no time.”
Hopefully Zuffa books Kennedy for the rematch since it’s unlikely that many opponents will be lining up to take on a tough former Strikeforce champ in two-and-a-half weeks. Tim is said to be next in line at a shot at champ Luke Rockhold, but a planned January bout never materialized for unknown reasons.
What can anyone say about Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at this point in his career that has not already been said?Not a whole lot of love might be directed at Rockhold as far as his expected win over Keith Jardine goes, but the choic…
What can anyone say about Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at this point in his career that has not already been said?
Not a whole lot of love might be directed at Rockhold as far as his expected win over Keith Jardine goes, but the choice to have Jardine step in for Tim Kennedy was not Rockhold’s fault.
Injuries happen as part of the sport, and by now, it should be the norm that we’ll hear something about fights getting modified and scratched due to injuries, so the Rockhold-Kennedy change to Rockhold-Jardine is not a big enough deal to distract anyone from the improvements Rockhold has made since beating Jacare Souza in September 2011.
However, nothing makes sense outside of a bout with Kennedy, who not only defeated Melvin Manhoef, but also did the seemingly impossible and defeated Robbie Lawler.
Seriously speaking, Rockhold does not have many more tests ahead of him in Strikeforce, aside from Kennedy, unless Robbie Lawler blasts through his next few foes.
Nonetheless, Rockhold should recognize that while he may not have many contenders left, he still does have some.
Kennedy is an all-around skilled fighter who lands heavy blows standing up, presents a very strong submission game on the ground and offers a sound mix of heart, grit, cardio and the ability to set a pace with which most middleweights cannot contend.
Rockhold needs that sort of challenge now while he still has the opportunity to test himself, because without it, how long can he hope to survive in the UFC?
Filed under: StrikeforceSaturday’s Strikeforce card, headlined by a main event of Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine was a perfectly good night of fights. And yet something was missing — something that Rockhold himself put his finger on in his post-fight…
Saturday’s Strikeforce card, headlined by a main event of Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine was a perfectly good night of fights. And yet something was missing — something that Rockhold himself put his finger on in his post-fight interview.
What’s missing from Strikeforce these days is enough talented, recognizable fighters to fill up a full fight card, and enough talented, recognizable fighters to put together a complete weight class. And so it was no surprise that when Rockhold was asked after the fight who he’d like to defend his middleweight title against next, Rockhold said he’d like to fight someone from the UFC.
“I like fighting, I like getting paid, but I love competition and striving to be the best,” Rockhold said. “Right now all the best guys are in the UFC, at least the Top 10 ranked — besides myself, maybe, in some rankings. Those are the guys I want. I want to climb to the top, I want to fight the best in the world, and I think they should bring over some top contenders. Let’s see who the true No. 1 contender is, because I believe I am, and I’d love the chance to prove it.”
Showtime executives probably gulped hard when they heard those words — here’s the guy who just won the main event on the first card of the new Showtime-Strikeforce partnership, and he’s basically saying Strikeforce isn’t good enough.
But Rockhold is largely correct: The best guys are in the UFC, and if Rockhold wants to prove that he’s one of the best guys, there’s really no way for him to do it until he’s fighting opponents from the UFC. If Zuffa won’t either move Rockhold into the UFC or move UFC fighters into Strikeforce, there’s just no way for Rockhold to show where he stacks up.
Unfortunately for Rockhold, all indications are that it’s simply not going to happen: The UFC is going to keep its best fighters in the Octagon, and Strikeforce will have to make do with what it has. Don’t expect a Top 10 fighter from the UFC to be challenging for Rockhold’s Strikeforce belt.
That’s too bad for Rockhold, but that’s the reality: Strikeforce is capable of putting together entertaining fight cards, but if you want to see the best you have to watch the UFC.
Strikeforce Notes — Starting with this card, all of Strikeforce’s preliminary card fights will air on Showtime Extreme, which is a welcome development — at least for people who get Showtime Extreme. Unfortunately, the level of talent on display in some of the undercard fights was lacking. About the only thing Alonzo Martinez showed in his unanimous decision loss to Estevan Payan is that he can take a punch, and Martinez took a whole lot of punches for 15 solid minutes. Martinez really didn’t look like he belonged in a televised fight. And Ricky Legere’s unanimous decision victory over Chris Spang was a ho-hum affair. I realize Strikeforce preliminary cards aren’t exactly going to have Top 10 fighters, but they need to improve the matchmaking on the prelims to give the fans a reason to tune in a couple hours before the main card starts.
— Seeing UFC President Dana White interviewed during a Strikeforce broadcast was a surprise, and another indication that the UFC’s ownership of Strikeforce is not, contrary to what White says, “business as usual.” White looked a little uncomfortable in the role, but the bottom line is that White — not Scott Coker — is the promoter the fans want to hear from, and it just makes sense that White would be the promoter to appear on television during a Strikeforce show.
Strikeforce Quotes “She explained to me that she wants to give us a fair chance to keep continuing, and I respect that. Because if that was me, I would rather be put to sleep than her jump in and me still be awake.” — King Mo Lawal, saying he understood why referee Kim Winslow stopped his win over Lorenz Larkin when she did. It’s to Lawal’s credit that he was concerned enough about his opponent that he wanted the fight stopped sooner, and it’s also to Lawal’s credit that he acknowledged that the referee has a hard job knowing exactly when to step in.
Having said that, I thought the stoppage was a little slow — Winslow let Larkin take a couple punches too many.
Good Call The judges for that Payan-Martinez fight all got the scores right — 30-27 for Payan — which gave me some hope that we’d see a night of good judging. Unfortunately, there were some highly questionable scorecards in the three split decisions later in the night, including …
Bad Call The scores were all over the map on the Tarec Saffiedine-Tyler Stinson fight. Only one judge got it right, 29-28 for Saffiedine. One judge scored it 30-27 for Saffiedine, which was highly questionable given Stinson’s performance in the first round, and another scored it 29-28 for Stinson, which was highly questionable given Saffiedine’s performance in the second and third rounds.
Stock Up Gian Villante is an athletic young light heavyweight with potential, and it was good to see him turn in an impressive first-round TKO win over Trevor Smith. Villante did a phenomenal job of ground and pound, grabbing Smith’s leg with one hand and battering Smith in the face with his other hand.
Stock Down Keith Jardine is a fighter I’ve always liked, but it’s hard to see why he should keep fighting. Jardine is just 2-6-1 in his last nine fights, and he’s now been brutally knocked out several times in his career. For the sake of his long-term health, Jardine needs to seriously consider hanging up the gloves.
Fight I Want to See Next Luke Rockhold vs. Tim Kennedy. Bringing in a middleweight from the UFC would be great for Rockhold, but the reality is that it’s not going to happen. Kennedy is the Strikeforce middleweight who makes the most sense for Rockhold.
What can anyone say about Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold at this point in his career that has not already been said?
Saturday’s 